Photo: USGS
An earthquake of magnitude 6.6 has struck near Papua New Guinea's second-largest city, Lae.
The US Geological Survey reported the epicentre was about 26 kilometres west-south-west of Lae, and 99.4 kilometres deep.
A Papua New Guinea government official, Malum Nalu, told Reuters the earthquake struck around 9pm local time, when he was in Lae's stadium with hundreds of others for a ceremony honouring deceased governor Luther Wenge.
"There was a big rumbling noise like a plane flying overhead, then the building was shaking violently for around three minutes," Nalu said by phone.
"There were hundreds of people inside; it was packed to capacity. People were rushing to get out of the exits and the deputy prime minister was calling for people to keep calm."
A Lae city police official described the earthquake as "very huge", but both officials said they did not yet have details of any damage.
Another witness, who declined to be named, said the earthquake had stirred superstition among locals.
No tsunami warning is in place.
